49ers Glen Coffee, 23, Suddenly Retires from NFL

If you are like everyone else in the football-following world, you were a bit shocked by the sudden retirement of San Francisco 49ers second-year running back Glen Coffee the other day. He was quasi-battling with sixth-round pick Anthony Dixon to be Frank Gore’s backup, and chances are he was going to win.

But, the question was “why?” Why are you retiring? Head coach Mike Singletary said he didn’t even bother to ask him.

“I didn’t want to go into a conversation about why. I’m not going to do that. He is a man, and the last thing that I’m going to do is disrespect him and try to drag something out,” Singletary said.

Okaaaaaaay. Some who followed him at Alabama said that he probably retired to join the monastery a la Napoleon Kaufman of the Oakland Raiders in the mid-90′s.

But, Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee finally caught up with Coffee, who offered some insight as to why he decided to call it quits.

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“It was a struggle for a long time,” he said. “Actually when I look back I feel I never should have entered the draft in the first place,” Coffee said. “Football was no longer my dream. I found Christ in college. It changed my views on everything. But I still was a football player because it was expected of me, it was something I did all my life. I was basically wasting the (49ers’) time.”

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Barrows then asked him about all those that speculated that he was quitting due to something like a failed drug test.

“Yesterday I was reading on the Internet and some reporter said I made the decision because I got blown up in a blocking drill,” he laughed. “Come on, man! Give me more credit than that! But I’ve got to expect that when I do something so unexpectedly. No, there were no personal issues. But I really am sorry that I put the 49ers in this situation. I should have handled it a lot differently.”

We give him a lot of credit for walking away. If your heart isn’t in it, it’s not in it. He’s going to go back to Alabama to get his degree and then pursue a Master’s.